An up-tempo offense is just one of the things that appears to has the Old Colony Regional boys basketball team running in the right direction.

Heading into this week's action the Cougars were off to a 4-3 start — the best since the 2008-09 team was 5-2 after seven games — and first-year head coach Matt Trahan was hopeful the trend would continue. "The players have bought into the system and, so far, we're playing good, aggressive basketball. Hopefully, we'll continue to play that way."

The Cougars' formula for success has revolved around quick feet and an unselfish attitude.

"We're getting contributions from a lot of different players and those contributions are coming at both ends of the court," Trahan said. Jake Pringle is a 6-foot-2 junior who appears to have come into his own as a scorer. Through the first seven games, Pringle had been in double figures six times and leads the Cougars in scoring with his 14.7 points per game average. But, in the last four games, four different players have led the team in scoring, including 6-5 senior center John Pina who dropped in a career-high 20 points in a seven-point win at Tri-County.

"John also led us in rebounds (that game) and is capable of scoring 20 points and grabbing 15 rebounds every game. But he's just one piece of the puzzle," Trahan said. "Jake (Pringle) has developed into a nice all-around shooter and Jarryde (Melo) has stepped up to do a nice job at the point. He has the quickest first step of anyone I've seen which makes him a threat to drive, and he has the ability to shoot and hit the 3-point shot."

Trahan was also quick to praise his veteran swingman, Billy Augustine. The 6-0 senior, who had reached double figures just once before leading the team with 16 points in Friday's loss to Avon, "does a lot of good things," like pass, rebound and defend.

It's still early but, so far, it's been a good ride for the Cougars and their first-year head coach.

APPONEQUET: Josh Fickert scored a career-high 15 points in the Lakers' 10-point loss to Seekonk on Wednesday. That was the good news. The bad news was the Lakers lost at home for the second time in three games and dropped the first of back-to-back road games at Dighton-Rehoboth on Friday. They will be at Fairhaven on Tuesday and are 0-3 away from home. ... Charlie Roberts scored 10 points in his first extended minutes with the varsity in the loss to Seekonk, which could earn the sophomore extended minutes of playing time in the near future. ... The four 3-pointers in Wednesday's loss to Seekonk was one shy of the season high for the Lakers. The team drilled five threes in a season-opening loss at Somerset. NEXT GAME: Tuesday night at Fairhaven.

BISHOP STANG: The Spartans open a four-game homestand on Tuesday against Coyle-Cassidy after concluding a winless five-game road trip that included a series of blowout losses and an excrutiating, fall-from-ahead, two-point loss at Plymouth South in a game that saw Bishop Stang blow a 15-point lead. ... On the positive side, sophomore Cam Sylvia has seen his playing minutes increase and has responded with points, including a career-high eight in a blowout loss at Cardinal Spellman. Chris Mulvey scored a season-high 16 points in Wednesday's two-point loss at Plymouth South and followed up the effort with 14 points in Friday's loss at Martha's Vineyard. ... Junior Andrew Dessert drained his team-leading sixth and seventh 3-pointers of the season in Wednesday's setback and had two more on Friday. NEXT GAME: Tuesday night at home to Coyle-Cassidy.

DARTMOUTH: When Brady Holding equalled his career-high 29 points (he's done it three times in as many seasons), the senior became just the third area player to score 20 or more points in back-to-back games this season. Jeff Houde of Wareham had two straight games of 20-or-more points and New Bedford's Rylin Collazo has done it in three consecutive outings. Holding also is the area's only player to drain five-or-more 3-pointers in a game three times. ... Cody Borges continues to hold the title of "Mr. Consistent" as the 5-10 junior recorded his sixth straight double-figure game with 20 points in Wednesday's big win at Attleboro. Borges also had his fourth multiple 3-point game with two, giving him 12 on the season which is second only to team-leader Holding's 16. NEXT GAME: Today in the BBA Tournament at GNB Voc-Tech.

FAIRHAVEN: Friday's win over previously unbeaten GNB Voc-Tech snapped a 23-game losing streak against South Coast Conference teams, and the Blue Devils' offense scored 50 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 14 and Jan. 18 of 2011 when they scored 53 and 56 points in victories over Wareham and Old Rochester. ... While sophomore Cam Charette continues to lead the team in scoring with his 17 point-per-game average, two other sophomores have been seeing more playing time of late and both could eventually become key members of the Blue Devils' young roster. Matt Myers and Jay Rivera combined for eight points in a seven-point loss at Bourne last Wednesday and played with confidence at both ends of the court. Myers had a career-varsity high five points and Rivera stuck his first varsity 3-pointer. NEXT GAME: Tuesday night at home against Apponequet.

GNB VOC-TECH: Before losing at Fairhaven on Friday, the Bears' 5-0 start was the best since the 2005-06 team also opened 5-0. ... Joe Walsh doesn't score a lot of points (24 total on the season) but the 6-1 junior has been a key member of the Bears' starting five with his strong rebounding, good passing and solid rebounding. ... A.J. Nazario picked a good time to connect on his first 3-pointer of the season when his bank shot turned a two-point deficit into a 15-14 lead in the second quarter of Wednesday's victory over Dighton-Rehoboth. NEXT GAME: Tuesday night at Case.

NEW BEDFORD: Physically, the Whalers lost two of three games in their trip to the KSA Tournament in Orlando, Fla. In reality, however, the team was credited with a 2-1 record thanks to a forfeit win in the tournament opener. Because the Whalers' original opponent failed to show up for the tournament, New Bedford played what it later found out was an "exhibition" game against a team from California. The Whalers lost the exhibition, 64-46, but won the game by forfeit. The MIAA was notified and was expected to uphold the win, which would put the Whalers at 6-2 going into today's game against a Lowell team that whacked coach Tom Tarpey's crew, 93-39, back on Dec. 21. ... Josh Pontes had a productive three-game series in Florida with a career-high 17 points followed by 14 and six points in addition to ranking at or near the top in individual rebounds in each game. NEXT GAME: Today against Lowell.

OLD COLONY: With 103 points through his first seven games, Jake Pringle needs just 32 more to pass the 134 points he scored in 20 games last season. In seven games this season, the junior has scored a career-high 25 points and equalled or surpassed his previous career-high of 13 (last season) on four other occasions thus far. ... Kyle and Alex Soares are the only Cougars to hit 3-pointers in back-to-back games this season and the only players besides the graduated Cody Rodrigues to do it the last two seasons. NEXT GAME: Monday night at home against Bristol-Plymouth.

OLD ROCHESTER: Teddy Costa went into last Friday's game against Wareham having scored a total of 12 points on the season. The hard part is the total came via exactly three points in each of the four games. The streak was snapped when he registered just one point in the Friday loss to the Vikings. ... Going into Friday's game at Wareham, Jeremy Bare was averaging 13.8 points and seven rebounds; Michael Pruchnik 9.9 points and 6 rebounds a game and Hayden Bergeron was averaging just under six points and grabbing four-to-five rebounds in limited playing time. The one thing all three have in common is that they're juniors and among the many underclassmen on a young, rebuilding team. NEXT GAME: Friday night at Bourne.

WAREHAM: The Vikings were facing a busy weekend that had them playing three games in as many days (Friday night at home against Old Rochester and this weekend with Saturday and Sunday games in the BBA Tournament). This coming on the heels of a 13-day layoff and with their two most productive players not up to par. Darien Fernendez, who leads in the team in both scoring and assists, rolled his ankle in a Thursday practice and Jeff Houde has been bitten by the flu bug. Both played in Friday's win over ORR but combined for just 12 points, 11 coming from Fernandez. ... Mason Vasconcellos went into the ORR game coming off his best performance of the season with 12 points and four 3-pointers. He followed up the effort with a season-high 14 points and his second four 3-point effort of the season. "When Mason plays well, we seem to play well as a team," Brogioli said of his junior guard. NEXT GAME: Today in the BBA Tournament at GNB Voc-Tech.

WESTPORT: Six different players had scored in double figures prior to last Friday's game against Bristol-Plymouth with "11" being a common number among four from that group. Jake Friar owned a team high with his career-best 20 points in a win at Cardinal Spellman, while Rich Hartnett had a season-high 17 points and Tom Yeargin a career-high 10 points prior to Friday. Four players — Chris Hartnett, Rich Hartnett, Ryan Kirby and Chad Willard had combined for 11 double-digit games, six of them totaling exactly 11 points. NEXT GAME: Today in the BBA Tournament at GNB Voc-Tech.

LEADING SCORERS

The information includes: Player, (school), games/points and per-game average through Friday's games.